Hannah Herzsprung

Hannah Herzsprung is a German actress known for her performances across German television and feature films. She is the daughter of actor Bernd Herzsprung and fashion designer Barbara Engel. Over the course of her career, she has performed in television series, comedy programs, television movies, and major cinematic productions.

Herzsprung completed part of her early education in England, where she attended the Hurtwood House boarding school until 1998. The following year, in 1999, she began taking private acting lessons. Alongside her early acting work, she later pursued higher education, beginning her studies in Communication Sciences in Vienna towards the end of 2002.

Her acting career began on television in 1997, when she made her debut in the BR series Aus heiterem Himmel. In this production, she portrayed the role of Miriam "Mimi" Pauly at the beginning of the fourth and final season. At the end of 2002, Herzsprung also worked as a presenter, hosting a clip show on the musicbox channel—later known as Tele 5—alongside her sister, Sara.

Following her debut, Herzsprung appeared in numerous television roles. She played Jule in the television film Das böse Mädchen and began portraying Vera in the series 18 – Allein unter Mädchen in 2003. Also in 2003, her television projects included a part in Unter Verdacht: Beste Freunde and a smaller role in the comedy show Tramitz & Friends.

Herzsprung's roles grew more complex with the television movie Emilia – Die zweite Chance, in which she played a patient with borderline personality disorder. In 2005, she earned her first leading film role playing the murderer Jenny in Four Minutes, directed by Chris Kraus. That same year, she played a suicidal youth in the Alain Gsponer film Life Actually. To star in these two films, Herzsprung ended her university studies in Vienna and moved to Berlin.

Her work in Four Minutes and Life Actually brought her significant professional recognition and awards. On January 19, 2007, she was awarded the Bayerischen Filmpreis for best new female talent for Four Minutes. For her work in Life Actually, she received the Deutschen Filmpreis for best supporting role in 2007, as well as the Adolf-Grimme-Preis in 2009.

Herzsprung continued appearing in high-profile feature films and adaptations. In 2007, she played the terrorist Susanne Albrecht in The Baader Meinhof Complex and took on the leading role of Daniela in the film 10 Seconds. In 2008, she played Julia in Stephen Daldry's film The Reader. She also portrayed Charlotte in Uwe Janson's adaptation of Goethe's novel The Sorrows of Young Werther, and played the young Liesl Karlstadt in Jo Baier's television movie Liesl Karlstadt & Karl Valentin.